France bulldozes refugees’ church, mosque

[CopyBoy]

(RNS) A church and mosque in France’s “jungle” camp for migrants and refugees have been destroyed, despite authorities’ reportedly promising not to demolish the places of worship.

Bulldozers moved into the camp in Calais, the departure point for ferries to Great Britain, on Monday (Feb. 1) and tore down the mosque, which reportedly drew up to 300 worshippers each day, and St. Michael’s Church, a makeshift chapel serving mainly Orthodox Ethiopian Christians.

Residents of the camp were given just a few minutes to collect their belongings before the demolition took place around 9 a.m. local time, the charity Help Refugees UK reported.

religionnews.com/2016/02/01/france-bulldozes-refugees-church-mosque/

 

[SyroMalankara]

This is sad for the people worshipping - I initially felt bad about it; however, seeing the picture in the article made me wonder about the safety of such a flimsy structure. If it had collapsed or burned up, imagine the number of people that could die… assuming the best intentions, I think the French were attempting to prevent a greater catastrophe.